Time Magazine: Texas is America’s Future

Time Magazine has a new cover story (subscription required) touting the Lone Star State as the future of the country with lavish praise for the state’s business climate. The piece notes, among other things, that the five fastest-growing cities in the country are in Texas, nearly one-third of the country’s highest-paying jobs were created in Texas between 2002-2011, and Texas has the third-highest average income (after adjusting for tax rates and cost of living.)

But the cover story gives an unvarnished assessment of other less-appealing attributes of our state:

They say the Lone Star State has four seasons: drought, flood, blizzard and twister. This summer 97% of the state was in a persistent drought; in 2011 the Dallas–Fort Worth area experienced 40 straight days in July and August of temperatures of 100° or higher. The state’s social services are thin. Welfare benefits are skimpy. Roughly a quarter of residents have no health insurance. Many of its schools are less than stellar. Property-crime rates are high. Rates of murder and other violent crimes are hardly sterling either. A recent report from the FBI found that the home state of Chuck Norris led the nation as the place the most people got punched or kicked to death in 2012.

And the notion that Texas is America’s future isn’t a complete compliment to either the state or the U.S. in the story written by economist Tyler Cowen:

To a lot of Americans, Texas feels like the future. And I would argue that more than any other state, Texas looks like the future as well — offering us a glimpse of what’s to come for the country at large in the decades ahead. The U.S. is experiencing ever greater economic inequality and the thinning of its middle class; Texas is already one of our most unequal states. America’s safety net is fraying under the weight of ballooning Social Security and Medicare costs; Texas’ safety net was built frayed. Americans are seeking a cheaper cost of living and a less regulated climate in which to do business; Texas has those in spades. And did we mention there’s no state income tax? (Texas is one of only seven states in the union that lack the levy.)

His conclusion: Government could best help folks struggling to maintain a middle class lifestyle by following Texas’ low-government style:

There are also many small but important ways in which states and cities can adjust in order to incorporate some of the lessons Texas has to teach.

For instance, states could deregulate building so that rents and home prices could be much lower. Housing is one of the biggest costs in most people’s budgets, and it will be difficult to bring those costs down without greater competition and significantly higher urban density. In ­other words: San Francisco needs to become more like Houston when it comes to zoning.